KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 — The ringgit closed lower against the US dollar today, coinciding with the softer Brent crude oil price after the world’s top exporter Saudi Arabia slashed crude contract prices for Asia over the weekend.
The move was said to reflect well-supplied global markets, thus spurring concerns over the demand outlook.
At 6pm, the local note stood at 4.1465/1490 versus the greenback from last Friday’s close of 4.1445/1475.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco had notified customers in a statement on Sunday that it will cut October’s official selling prices for all crude grades sold to Asia — its biggest buying region — by at least US$1 per barrel.
“Note that Brent crude oil has a causality effect towards the ringgit,” he told Bernama.
At the time of writing, benchmark Brent crude oil decreased by 0.52 per cent to US$72.23 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.
The local note was marginally higher versus the Singapore dollar to 3.0875/0896 from last Friday’s close of 3.0876/0903 and increased vis-a-vis the euro to 4.9186/9215 from 4.9195/9231 previously.
However, it had depreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.7730/7753 from 3.7705/7735 on Friday and fell against the British pound to 5.7404/7435 from 5.7352/7393 previously.
— Bernama
